1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to testing the operation of integrated circuit (IC) devices, and in particular to systematically analyzing signals within complex IC devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to utilizing an IC probing system for flexibly and comprehensively monitoring intra-system and inter-system signals within telecommunications networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
IC Debugging
Debugging tools have been conventionally required to identify and diagnose faults and to collect useful operating information for complex IC devices. Increasing emphasis is being. placed on designing integrated circuit devices to internally incorporate probing logic to reduce the number of I/O pads that must be physically contacted. The rapidly increasing complexity in IC device design has resulted in manufacturing testing techniques which utilize such built-in test logic to analyze several levels of IC performance. Among these levels are wafer level, IC chip module level, multi-chip module (MCM) level, board level, and system level. In the interest of manufacturing efficiency, testing is typically performed at each of the above-mentioned levels in a step-wise manner such that flaws or errors are detected the lowest level possible.
Telecommunications Network Analysis
As Local-Area Networks (LANs) and Wide-Area Networks (WANS) continue to proliferate, and the number of personal computers (PCs) that connect to these networks continue to grow at a rapid pace, the availability of good network management tools becomes ever more important for effective network administration. Network administrators rely heavily on tools that monitor network traffic to ease the task of network management. Network traffic information is particularly useful to network administrators when performing such management tasks as diagnosing problems in the network and performing administrative tasks such as adding, removing or rearranging network devices. As with the aforementioned debugging tools and techniques, network traffic assessment requires the utilization of external overhead fixtures such as RMON sniffers.
It would therefore be useful to provide a probing technique whereby internally implemented probe logic may be flexibly configured to assess the internal operations for an IC device. If implemented, such a method and system would be useful by providing a systematic and comprehensive IC assessment device which also includes inherent network traffic monitoring capabilities.
A method and system are disclosed for systematically accessing and monitoring operating parameter signals within an IC device. A probe configuration logic selects a subset of signals from among a set of available signals within a physical or logical subdivision of the IC device. Signal access logic selectively provides physical or logical access from the selected subset of signals within said physical or logical subdivision of said IC device to a probe sensor, such that IC device operations may be flexibly and comprehensively monitored. A mode selector provides local means for providing remote access to the selected subset of signals at an input/output (I/O) data interface. Data packaging logic in communication with the probe sensor permits port mirroring of the I/O data interface.